Category: Chicago

I have flown in to and out of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport often: 71 times, since I started keeping careful track, 11 years ago. But I have not been able to say I have visited the City of Chicago, as until now I have not left the terminals to do that. This week and last I finally had the chance, working in the Central Loop of the “Second City.”

The first thing I discovered, while leaving the airport itself, is that one of Chicago’s sister cities is Kyiv. Here’s the flag of Ukraine, in the concourse of the transit station at O’Hare. It’s appropriate that Chicago and Kyiv were twinned in 1991, the year that Ukraine became independent. Next past the Ukrainian flag is the Lithuanian flag, as Vilnius is also a sister city.

Here’s a more conventional tourist photo: the Chicago Board of Trade Building. It’s right around the block from where I’m working and where I’m staying. This Art Deco building was constructed in 1930, and is today a U.S. National Historic Landmark. When I first saw it, I thought of the movie “The Untouchables.” The Board of Trade Building and the Lasalle Street “canyon” in front of it have not changed since the days of gangster Al Capone and G-Man Eliot Ness.